Such systems are presented in publications WO 2009/080880, WO 2009/080881, WO 2009/080882, WO 2009/080883, WO 2009/080884, WO 2009/080885, WO 2009/080886, WO 2009/080887 and WO 2009/080888, among others. The invention relates to the delivery end of waste conveying systems, more particularly to the apparatuses of waste stations, in which apparatuses the waste material of pneumatic systems is conveyed from a conveying pipe into a waste container.
Systems wherein solid wastes are conveyed in a piping system by means of a pressure difference or suction are known in the art. In these, wastes are conveyed long distances in the piping system by sucking. It is typical to these systems that a partial-vacuum apparatus is used to bring about a pressure difference, in which apparatus negative pressure is brought about in the conveying pipe with partial-vacuum generators, such as with a fan, with vacuum pumps or with an ejector apparatus. A conveying pipe typically comprises at least one valve means, by opening and closing which the replacement air coming into the conveying pipe is regulated. Waste input points, e.g. rubbish bins or refuse chutes, are used in the systems at the input end for waste material, into which input points material, such as waste material, is fed and from which the material being conveyed is transferred into a conveying pipe by opening a discharge valve, in which case, by means of the suction effect achieved by the aid of the partial vacuum acting in the conveying pipe, and also by means of the surrounding air pressure acting via the replacement air valve of an input point and/or arranged in the conveying pipe, solid material, such as e.g. solid waste material packed into bags, is conveyed from an input point into the conveying pipe and onwards in the conveying pipe to a reception point, in which the material being transported is separated from the transporting air and e.g. in a separating device, which can also be a waste container, such as a horizontal separator container. The pneumatic conveying systems for solid wastes in question can be utilized particularly well in densely populated urban areas. These types of areas have tall buildings, in which the feeding in of wastes into a pneumatic conveying system for wastes is performed via an input point, such as a refuse chute arranged, in the building.
The volume of the container at the reception point typically varies according to the embodiment. Typically the volume of a waste container of a reception point can be e.g. 10-60 m3. Depending on the application site, the conveying system is used to convey the material that has accumulated in the input points e.g. 1-3 times in a 24-hour cycle. Conventionally, it has been endeavored to raise the capacity of a waste container by compacting the waste into a more concentrated form in the container by means of a compressor device, the compressor means of which compresses the material into a denser form before conveying it into the container or in conjunction with conveying it into the container. A compressor device requires a lot of space and typically requires a separate separating device, from which waste material is conveyed into the operating area of the compressor and onwards into the container for compacting. These are typically applied in particularly large systems. Also known in the art are solutions wherein waste is compacted before the actual conveying of the material in the piping system. In such a case the material is compacted immediately after the feed-in phase. Replacement air is added to the body of compacted material before it is conveyed in the conveying piping so that the material displaces in the conveying piping more reliably and the risk of blockage is reduced. In such a case the material constituents of the material batch being conveyed separate from each other and thus the volume of the material batch expands in the transporting air flow in the piping. In this case in the conveying piping a material batch that expanded in volume during transportation again takes up a lot of space in the container at the receiving end.
The aim of the present invention is to achieve an entirely new type of solution for compacting material in the reception end of a wastes conveying system, by means of which solution the drawbacks of solutions known in the art are avoided. One aim of the invention is to achieve a solution with which the capacity of a material container can be utilized more efficiently than earlier. One aim is to achieve an easily controllable arrangement that is applicable particularly to rather small systems, that is advantageous in terms of costs and that takes up little space.